Thursday, November 20, 2014

On Nov. 1, Park Johnson was presented the Hiram Award in recognition of his service to Lodi Lodge No. 256, Free and Accepted Masons. Johnson joined the lodge in 2008 and has been active in the lodge affairs by serving on numerous committees and participating in projects and activities.

Following the presentation ceremony, a dinner was held in his honor and it was attended by over 50 friends, family and lodge members. The Hiram Award is the highest award that can be bestowed by a Masonic lodge upon one of its members and only one such award can be presented each calendar year. The award is presented in recognition of the member’s outstanding service to the lodge and exemplification of the ideals and tenants of Freemasonry.

On Nov. 6, brothers Joseph and Norman Maley were each presented with a Golden Veteran Award to commemorate their 50 years as a member of the Masonic fraternity. The brothers became Master Masons on the same day in November 1964. A dinner was hosted by Lodi Lodge F. & A.M. in their honor prior to the presentation ceremony. The dinner was attended by over 50 family, friends, and lodge members.

The Masonic fraternity is entwined in both of their lives. Their grandfather, Joe Maley, was a member of Woodbridge lodge F. & A.M. Their father, “Bud” Maley, was a member of Lodi Lodge and their mother a member of the Rainbow Girls as was Joe’s sister Betty and Lou’s sister Cindy.

Joe’s father-in-law, Tom Fuller, was the Master of Manteca Lodge, and an uncle, Richard Lang, was a 33 degree Scottish Rite in San Jose.

The brothers, Norman “Lou” Maley and brother Joseph “Joe” Maley were both born in the Lodi area, and are descendents of early settlers. The ancestral home, built by great-great grandfather Andrew Hashner, who came to the Lodi area in the late 1860’s, still stands on Turner Road near DeVries Road. Both brothers attended local schools, and except for time spent at U.C. Davis and their military service (Joe-national guard and Lou-Navy) they have stayed close to Lodi’s farming community raising cattle, tomatoes and grapes. They established what is now the Maley Brothers Winery in the mid-1980’s, one of the earlier wineries in the Lodi area which is now being operated by Todd Maley, Joe’s son.

The Maley brothers have both been active in the local community: Joe helping to found Tokay Savings and Loan, member of the California Association of Wine Grape Growers, California Farm Bureau and Delta Sigma Phi to name a few, and brother Lou has been active in the Turner School District, Woodbridge Vineyard Association, Woodbridge Fire Department, and American Legion, also just to name a few.

Both brothers have large families in the area: Lou–a daughter, three grand children and two (soon to be three) great granddaughters. Joe: a son and a daughter, three grandsons, and two grand daughters. (A last note on Lou Maley: he is said to make great homemade pickles and olives.)

Monday, November 10, 2014

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —Sacramento’s downtown Entertainment and Sports Center attracted hundreds of people Sunday for the official Cornerstone Ceremony, an important event linking the city's future with its past.

Scores of masons marched en masse to the stone marker – a cornerstone – that's part of an American tradition dating back more than 200 years.

"We will be replicating a ceremony that George Washington actually conducted at the U.S. Capitol," said Russ Charvonia, grand master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of California.

The masons believe the first stone must be perfectly square, level and plumb – or the building itself will cave in.

On Sunday, the Sacramento Kings laid the foundation for a sports complex that will create more than 4,000 permanent jobs and 1.6 million new visitors to downtown Sacramento.

And with a 16-story hotel planned nearby, there’s the prospect of $12 billion in economic activity over the life of the project.

"When you add an arena that will have 150 to 200 event nights a year, plus a hotel, great restaurants, great shops (and) living (and) office space, we really hope we can catalyze new economic development in and around our city core," said Chris Granger, the president of the Sacramento Kings.

That development also includes the downtown railyards and the potential of a new privately financed soccer stadium for the Sacramento Republic FC.

The goal is to revitalize Sacramento's downtown core, making it a place where people want to live, and walk to work.

"There will be a lot of housing," Sacramento City Manager John Shirey said. "So, people will be able to live downtown, maybe walk to work, take advantage of entertainment -- all without having to get into their car."

And in just two years, Sacramento’s hole in the ground at 6th and J streets will be the center of economic development.

"Whoever thought a hole in the ground would look so cool?" Mayor Kevin Johnson said in a written statement. "The entertainment and sports complex has always been so much bigger than basketball. It’s about jobs, economic development, arts and culture and civic pride. We're laying a new foundation, not just for the arena complex, but for the future of downtown Sacramento."

Rufus Johnson, a mason from Alameda, is already excited.

"It’s a money maker," Johnson said. "Because you can’t imagine the amount of money that's going to be won when this building is completely finished."

Sacramento’s futuristic project has strong historical roots. The downtown site is the same location where California's first masons lodge was organized in 1850.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Alvin Ehrhardt was a member of the Shriners Masonic Lodge in Redding, and friends of his said he was a generous and wonderful man.

Friends also called him the 'Penny Man,' because he made a goal to collect one million pennies and donate the money to the Shriner's Children's Hospital in Sacramento.

"He started out with seven pennies somebody gave him," said fellow mason Dennis Carr.

"Somebody asked him for his two cents worth, and he was at a luncheon and came back to his seat, and there were seven-to-eight pennies where he was sitting," said acquaintance Kelly Bickett, who co-owns Northern California Insurance in Redding.

For complete Story & video go to http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/friends-give-man-two-cents-worth-by-carrying-on-legacy/29611730